Harvey The Invisible Rabbit's Pooka Page

Welcome to ...

... which is maintained by Harvey's dear friend,
Elwood P. Dowd, when he gets around to it.

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John Sherwood as Elwood, also with Harvey in the background painting, created by Dusty Reeds [Marshall Civic Players, Marshall, Mich., 1999).

Our good friend the late James Stewart as Elwood introduces Harvey to some of his sister's acquaintances in the 1950 film of "Harvey."

Another one of our good friends, the late Joe E. Brown, also was famous for playing Elwood Dowd on stage. To learn more, click on the picture above!

IF YOU DON'T KNOW 'HARVEY,' GET THE MOVIE OR SCRIPT: You can order the film or the play script by visiting our *STORE* and scroll down to our Amazon search field. If you want the video or DVD, select the "Video" area and enter "Harvey Stewart" in the search field. If you want the play script, select the "Books" area and enter "Harvey Mary Chase" in the search field.

MOST PEOPLE WHO KNOW ABOUT HARVEY think of him as an invisible white rabbit who stands at least six feet tall, can stop time, knows *everything* and spends his evenings going from bar to bar. Harvey is a little more complicated than that. We regard him as a shape-shifting elemental spirit of very ancient origin. And we imagine that Harvey picked Elwood P. Dowd to be his best friend because Mr. Dowd, who used to be smart, now prefers to be merely pleasant. Perhaps Harvey believed that he had something to learn from Mr. Dowd, rather than the other way around.

WE KEEP RUNNING into references to Harvey here and there, most recently in movies! One famous reference is in an early scene in "Field of Dreams," when Kevin Costner describes Elwood Dowd as crazy – before he starts hearing a strange voice himself. We also were happy to hear Russell Crowe introduce another performer to Harvey during an exchange in "A Beautiful Mind." But that was just a passing glance and was meant as a wry joke -- obviously Harvey wasn't really there because the other performer promptly sat in the chair Harvey supposedly occupied. Still, Harvey seems to have shown up "for real" in the movies "Sexy Beast" (as a nightmarish, rifle-toting rabbit/humanoid) and "Donnie Darko" (as a nasty, violence-prone spirit). In both of those movies, the rabbit-pooka was much more threatening and strange than he was in the original "Harvey," but even in that much older movie, some of the characters regarded Harvey as threatening and even malignant. And now we hear that John Travolta may be playing Elwood in a new movie version. Hmm ....

DOES THE IDEA that Harvey might be real sort of *FRIGHTEN* you? You're not alone! So ... before you read any more, you'd better shake off your fear by clicking * HERE *.

DID YOU KNOW that Jimmy Stewart was not the very first Elwood Dowd?!?!
To learn the facts, click *HERE* . We've included photos of the original cast, and some information about Mary Chase, the Denver, Colo., woman who introduced Harvey and Elwood to the world.

WHAT IS A POOKA, ANYWAY?
Here's everything you *should* know about those mischievous, sometimes furry ancient Celtic guardian sprites and hobgoblins! Did you know that Shakespeare's Puck is a pooka ("pwca" in Welsh)? And what's the real story about that Winnie-the-Pooh pal of Christopher Robin? And does Harvey really "know everything"? And can Harvey really stop clocks? Is the White Rabbit from "Alice in Wonderland" Harvey's uptight second cousin? And what about Calvin's dear friend Hobbs?
TO LEARN MORE, CLICK *HERE*.

TELL US ABOUT your own invisible friend!
Or ask Harvey a question!
He'll try to answer you soon!
To send HARVEY your message, click * HERE *

DO YOU WANT to send an e-mail to Mr. Dowd?
He's at Charlie's Place right now,
but he'll try to get back to you soon!
To send Elwood a message, click on the new e-mail address *HERE*
but not on the old one *here*.

HAVE YOU EVER ACTED with Harvey on stage? We wonder what you think about having had close contact with Harvey -- or someone like him. So, if you've ever been in a production of "Harvey," we would enjoy hearing from you -- and we'll share your comments about your experience through a special page at this site.
Tell us anything you like, whether you'd like to be identified
as the author of your comments, and the region where you live.
To send your comments, click * HERE * -- and let us know!

SOME QUESTIONS we hope to answer in the near future:
When Elwood's sister told Harvey to "go to Hell," why did Harvey go?
What do Elwood and Moses have in common?
Elwood drinks alcohol and befriends just about everyone. What biblical person did the same?
Is Harvey the only wise supernatural entity that people say doesn't exist?\

A review of a very special production of Mary Chase's Pulitzer Prize-winning play, "HARVEY"

Drop in on our friends at

** COMING EVENTUALLY **

* "All I Need to Know I Learned from an Invisible Celtic Pastoral Entity" *

and

* "Harvey's Side of It All: Tidbits I Picked Up from Mr. Dowd" *

Mr. Dowd recommends these references to "Harvey":

Internet Movie Database | Movie sounds and photo stills
James Stewart Museum | Cwm Pwca
Focal an Lae #358 | POOKAdot
Harvey along the road | Robert Hawkes with Harvey
Harvey, fully assembled!
The House Rabbit Society | Rabbit care software

It's been a pleasure to meet you, and we hope to see you again!

We hope that you will support this effort!

You are Official Elwood P. Dowd Friend number:

Since April 1997, we've *really* had this many visitors:

We support the Christopher Reeve Foundation.

E-mail to: jcsherwood@kennett.net

** Revised 9 July 2003 **

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MysteryVisits offers challenging entertainment and enlightening fun to residents of Pennsylvania, Delaware, Maryland and New Jersey! For music, magic and mirth, call 610 / 345-0936 or send your date, needs and budget to jcsherwood@kennett.net today!